Various arrangements or systems have been provided in the past for securing insulated panels of the type shown and discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,312,028 and 3,555,758 to storage tanks. Such systems as indicated in a current brochure of the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Company and entitled "Zip-Rib Tank Insulation System" published in June, 1975, contemplate that the tracks disposed interiorly of the insulation and employed for mounting the insulated panels to a tank would be fastened to anchoring studs that had been previously welded to the outside wall of the tank structures. The difficulty with such an arrangement, however, is that at times this stud welding operation can pose explosion hazards. In other instances the condition of a given tank wall is such that it will not readily accept a stud weld. In still other instances, while outside tension bands are well-known devices for securing insulated jacketing to storage tanks to compensate for expansion and contraction, they have not always been as efficient as possible or easy to assemble and install in place.
In prior practice, the usual bands comprise strips of stainless steel on two foot centers which are applied exteriorly of the jacketing and require, in addition to more materials, special spring devices along their lengths to allow the bands to expand and contract commensurate with the thermal expansion and contraction of the tank relative to the jacketing so as to maintain the jacketing in proper contact with the tank at all times. Further disadvantages attendant upon the use of exterior rather than interiorly disposed insulation mounting tracks are that they are more susceptible to damage and corrosion problems.
The instant development is designed to help overcome the aforesaid tank jacketing problems by securing modular track segments together underneath the tank insulation in an improved fashion to form a substantially continuous hoop or circular track by the use of easy to install splice plates and take-up elements which are located at various strategic points along an overall track. These plates and take-up devices help the track accommodate itself to variations in the dimensions of a storage tank, while maintaining sufficient tension in the track to resist suction forces of the wind. Being under the insulation, the track tends to maintain substantially the same temperature as that of the tank at all times so as to remain substantially the same relative size regardless of the operating temperature inside the tank. This, in turn, helps to ensure that the insulated panels of the tank jacketing will be maintained in place without distortion or buckling and the integrity of the track system used to mount the panels in place generally maintained even during severe buffeting of the panels by the winds.
The advantageous features of the instant invention to be further described are believed to constitute improvements over the various insulation mounting systems for storage tanks and/or specific parts thereof disclosed in the aforesaid Owens-Corning Fiberglas brochure and/or in one or more of the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,955,686; 2,355,947; 2,323,297; 2,620,906; 2,857,995; 3,339,778; 3,903,671; 3,300,934; 3,708,943; 3,392,220; 3,948,412 and U.S. Pat. No. 27,330 as well as the joints made from interlocking elements, such as are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,189,052; 1,780,232; 2,531,349 and 2,633,266.